The family is doing great! We have been able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with our family in Butte and visit our long time friends in the Silver Bow neighborhood. Mimi is turning 91 this month and feeling fortunate to be closer to her to celebrate the special birthday. As many of you know, we had to change to plan B in moving all of our goods, vehicles and family back to Montana and very pleased to share that Justin's dad, Dave, is cancer free once again. Very thankful that Justin was able to be in Montana during Dave's recovery and also get more of Linda's home cookin'. When we arrived in Shelby, luck had it that it was still hunting season so we had our first visitors, David, Erik, Ryan, and Kinz come and visit for a weekend. Since then, Justin has been able to get out ice fishing for walleye on several occasions nearby. Some days, we are reminded of the cold temps that we grew to accept in Alaska, now experiencing some in Shelby with -30 temps and high winds as much as 80 mph.
Jaydyn has been practicing her letters and writing her name quite nicely. She stated the other day that she wished her name was as short and JT's so she wouldn't have to write as many letters when putting her name on things. She seems to have gotten over the name thing since Christmas and is super excited about the items she received for Christmas from both of her grandparents. Tonight, she was dressed up in her princess clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Mason and was playing with her new doll house from Grandma and Grandpa Decker. On Friday, Justin said that he saw her for a total of an hour and the rest of the time she was in her room playing with all of her new toys and dress up clothes. Thank you to everyone that made her day!
JT is starting to crawl so we had to do a quick baby proofing of the house this weekend. As if the crawling isn't enough, tonight he pulled himself to a standing position by holding onto one of his stationary toys. He's a happy little guy and thinks his sister is the best thing on the planet. At this point, Jaydyn thinks he's pretty cool too! She is super great with him and he is completely entertained by her. This past week, JT went in for his 6 month checkup and is growing like a weed. He now weighs 18 pounds and is 26 inches long. No teeth yet, and man does he wish he had them. He is extremely interested and vocal about wanting to eat what we are eating. He's a good eater and only blows bubbles and spits out peas. Go figure, his sister still pushes her peas around on her plate and avoids them like the plague.
I am able to walk to work each day, as we live a block away from the school. The job is great. I am quite amazed at how smooth the transition went due to coming into a school system mid year. The kids and staff are awesome and want to be there. Feeling sooo blessed to be able to leave my previous position on a good note and come into another positive environment. So far, each day has been different and I have a lot of work to do, but looking forward to the challenge. One of my highlights each day is that Justin and the kids come over and we eat lunch with the students. What are great thing to have family in the school and the kids and staff that welcome them open-armed.
With only 5 days into the new year, already I am incredibly humbled and blessed for what we have. My goal for this year is to be committed to more communication to our families and dear friends. Looking forward to the next time I can share our family updates with you!
Until next time, keep smiling and enjoy your time with the people around you.
Love,
Jeni, Justin, Jaydyn and JT
